#Trust30 Day 20 - Speaking Less

[Another #Trust30 post...For more information about them, click here].

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know I. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I once received a fortune cookie that read: “Speak less of your plans, you’ll get more done.” What’s one project that you’ve been sitting on and thinking about but haven’t made progress on? What’s stopping you? What would happen if you actually went for it and did it? - Laura Kimball

In addition to all of the other things I have been writing about for the #Trust30 challenge, one thing I want to do is find more readers for this blog. I have been working pretty hard to keep up on the writing, and I would like to find more people to read it. I need to create more connections with other people, and not be so afraid to promote what I am doing here

Besides trying to increase readership, I also want to change the blog’s design a little to make it more readable and useful. I have seen some pretty good blogs out there that serve as good models, and I could borrow some of their ideas.

The number one thing slowing me down right now is time management. I am writing a lot these days, and administrative things like design get pushed back. They are “important but not urgent” (another Stephen Covey reference), and I tend to work on urgent matters first.

Therefore, in honor of the prompt (“speak less”), I’m going to cut this post short and go try to get something done. Good night, and we'll see each other tomorrow.

#Trust 30 Day 19 – Facing our fears

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Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough to-day to do right, and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now. Always scorn appearances, and you always may. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trusting intuition and making decisions based on it is the most important activity of the creative artist and entrepreneur. If you are facing (and fearing) a difficult life decision, ask yourself these three questions:

1) “What are the costs of inaction?” I find it can be helpful to fight fear with fear. Fears of acting are easily and immediately articulated by our “lizard brains” (thanks Seth) e.g. what if I fail? what if I look stupid? If you systematically and clearly list the main costs of inaction, they will generally overshadow your immediate fears.

2) “What kind of person do I want to be?” I’ve found this question to be extremely useful. I admire people who act bravely and decisively. I know the only way to join their ranks is to face decisions that scare me. By seeing my actions as a path to becoming something I admire, I am more likely to act and make the tough calls.

3) “In the event of failure, could I generate an alternative positive outcome?” Imagine yourself failing to an extreme. What could you learn or do in that situation to make it a positive experience? We are generally so committed to the results we seek at the outset of a task or project that we forget about all the incredible value and experience that comes from engaging the world proactively, learning, and improving our circumstances as we go along. - Dan Andrews

I can see how these questions would be useful when trying to make a big decision. They help us place our fears inside a larger perspective. Most of the time when we confront our fears, we will find that although they are real, they are also irrational.

To answer the first question, the cost of failing to act is usually going to be greater than that of acting and failing, so it is better to go for it than to sit back and let fear paralyze us. Unfortunately, this intellectual knowledge does not always translate into action.

I am just about to finish a novel titled When Nietzsche Wept, written to teach some of Nietzsche’s philosophies. One of the book’s protagonists, Josef Breuer, tells Nietzsche that in order to change a person’s behavior, he or she must be touched by something much deeper than intellectual knowledge. Nietzsche abhors the suggestion that people are persuaded by something as frivolous as emotion, but he ultimately concedes that Breuer is right. Being affected at an emotional level is necessary to spur action inside us. Why are we like this? I’m not sure. It is just how humans are. If we remember this about ourselves, we have a much better chance of overcoming our fears.

The second question is useful to help take a long-term view of our actions. It is a legacy question. Chris Guillebeau suggests that as we make decisions about what we want to do with our lives, one of the first questions should be “what do I want my legacy to be?” The kind of person we are is going to reflect on our legacy.

With tomorrow being Father's Day, the question makes me think of my father and my grandfather, both of whom have worked hard all of their lives to leave a legacy for their children and grandchildren. They have been unselfish with their time, giving much to their community and their families. Because of this, both of them are well-respected and looked up to by many, including this son/grandson.

The third question is there to remind us to be flexible as we bump along in life. We cannot be too wedded to the perfect outcome that exists in our mind, because it is so difficult to predict the future.

A friend of mine tells the story of how he once got fired from a job, and it turned out to be a great thing because he was forced to start something new. The new path led him to some great successes and he would not be where he is today if he hadn’t been fired. One of the most tired clichés in the English language is “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” but there is a lot of truth in it. We can’t expect to know exactly the consequences of all our decisions when we make them, so we have to be prepared to change.

When I fall on my face, one way I can “generate a positive alternative outcome” would be to share the story with others, so that they might not repeat the same mistakes I have made. Our collective knowledge is so much more complete than any one individual’s knowledge, and it would be my goal to add to this knowledge.

Together, the three questions seem like a useful way to face our fears. Hopefully, the next time I am faced with a big decision, they will help me keep my irrationality under control, because irrational fears can get out of proportion and create much more angst inside us than they should.

Late Links, June 18, 2011

Here are Friday’s “missing links.”

Portland-based Coava has a new version of its Kone filter that gets some love from Gizmodo. link

Willamette Weekly has written a good analysis of the Stumptown sale to TSG. link

Uganda’s coffee farmers and government are working together to keep more of the money from the country’s coffee crop inside Uganda (with video). link

Forbes is decidedly optimistic about the future of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, based on the increasing market penetration of the company’s K-cup machines. link

The Philippine government is undertaking a tree-planting program, and coffee trees have been designated a “re-forestation species.” The thing I find fascinating about the article is that while most of it is written in English, the quotes are not (something a linguaphile can appreciate). link

The coffee industry needs to consume less water, argues a piece in The Guardian. link

Caffè Vita is offering free French press coffee for dads on Father’s Day (June 19). link

Have a great weekend!

#Trust30 Day 18 – Dreaming (again)

[Another #Trust30 post...For more information about why I’m writing them, click here].

Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Write down your top three dreams. Now write down what’s holding you back from them. –Michael Rad

A lot of these prompts seem to have similar thoughts or messages. I have tried to come up with something a little different for each one to keep them interesting. Three of my top dreams are:

Number 1 – Take an around-the-world voyage, hitting six continents on one trip

There are a few different obstacles to this one. First, it is difficult to afford this type of a trip (although I have found many good ideas to make this type of travel much more affordable through the Travel Hacking Cartel). Second, planning the trip will be a headache. It is not easy to hit six continents at one time without a good plan. Third, to be worth it, a trip like this must be at least two months (three to six months would be better) and I find it difficult to imagine taking two young kids on such an adventure. This one might have to wait a couple years.

Number 2 – Have a second home somewhere on the Mediterranean

Again, the primary obstacle for this one is financial. However, I do not need to have some huge house to be satisfied, so this might be much more affordable than it appears. I envision a small apartment, just big enough for the family, with enough space for the occasional short-term visitor. We have a friend with a small apartment in Galicia that serves as a model for this dream. It is just a regular apartment, with a couple bedrooms and a small kitchen, but it made the perfect place for some rest and recovery one time when we badly needed it. There will also be some logistical issues that make this one difficult, but when the time comes, I expect to be able to overcome them.

Number 3 – Write a book

I already discussed this one in an earlier #Trust30 post, but I will repeat it anyway. The obstacles are the following: First, I need to overcome the resistance to sit down and outline the entire book so that I know what exactly I need to write. Second, I need to make the time to write it. I am working to overcome this one by setting a more regular writing schedule. In addition, I also need to make sure that I do the important work that is not urgent (see Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for more explanation of that concept), so I need to make sure to keep the book as a priority. It is a big commitment and I need to follow through on it.

Weekly update: Like I thought it might be, this was a difficult week for writing about coffee. I even missed the Friday coffee links page (we’ll have “late links” this week). I have a few coffee articles in the works that I need to finish, but because there was no fixed deadline for them, I pushed them back to do other tasks (like #Trust30 posts). It looks to be a busy weekend.

#Trust30 Day 17 – Head in the Clouds

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

My favorite quote of all time is Alan Kay: ‘In order to predict the future, you have to invent it.’ I am all about inventing the future. Decide what you want the future to be and make it happen. Because you can. Write about your future now. – Cindy Gallop

Here’s a snapshot from the future. It’s fun to dream.

I foresee a future full of many journeys and even more words. I see myself using words to paint pictures of soft summer sunsets and billowy clouds drifting lazily overhead as they resist the collective call of the people to go away(!) for the summer.

I see myself getting up at six in the morning and sauntering out to my balcony overlooking a quiet street in a seaside city. I quickly eat a light breakfast, then sit down to labor out a few thousand words before my brain needs a break. When the energy runs out, I stop, put the laptop away and take a short walk down the street to have a cup of coffee and read the paper. After an hour of relaxation, I head back to my perch on the balcony, where I would once again pick up the story. If words do not come, I take out a sheet of paper and a ballpoint pen and scribble out something—a new character, villainous and immoral, or a picturesque landscape, a place where the heroine could not help but be happy and beautiful.

With the mechanisms of creation turning out words once again, I spend several more hours developing these characters and the lives they lead. They have become dear to me, and they would be dear to others too, if only they knew them as well as I do.

They say a good length for a first novel is around 100,000 words. That sounds like a lot, but really it is very few, especially if you want people to know how much life your characters have.

I will write—and will not stop writing—until the words which have built up inside me for so many years have run out. It might not be in my lifetime, for there were many years when I watched and listened and said very little.

I will write to solidify my own thoughts and perspectives, which slowly shift like the ground over a sunken spring.

I will learn to write without using too much alliteration.

When I am tired, I will be careful not to write too much, for the words tend to ramble on without direction.

I will not be afraid to try new things, even if they might not be understood by everyone.

And I will never forget to somehow tie the end to the beginning, even when there appears to be no strong bond between the two.

Click. The shutter is closed.

#Trust 30 Day 16 – Wonder and Awe

[Another #Trust30 post...For more information, click here].

When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name;—— the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Can you remember a moment in your life when you had life in yourself and it was wholly strange and new? Can you remember the moment when you stopped walking a path of someone else, and started cutting your own? Write about that moment. And if you haven’t experienced it yet, let the miracle play out in your mind’s eye and write about that moment in your future.” –Bridget Pilloud

One such moment in my life happened nearly a decade ago, on a delayed honeymoon to Europe. It began in Italy—Rome, actually—in the fall of 2001.

We were two kids from the country, recently married, exploring the Eternal City. Neither of us were experienced travelers, at least not compared to what we would become, and Rome made a lasting impression on us.

Rome is a city where the past and present are so intertwined you cannot separate them. I remember walking around looking at the monuments in the ancient Roman Forum and at the Vatican, marveling not only at their ages, but also at the history that had occurred in and around them.

Each day we saw something new, often built on top of something that was very old. We tried new foods and explored new parts of a city that had been explored many, many times before. It didn’t matter that we weren’t the first ones to meet Rome—the city easily accommodates new visitors, welcoming them to view the foundations of Western civilization.

At the time, the world was before us and the opportunities seemed unlimited. That may be why the trip was such a significant event to us—the sense of adventure is a powerful stimulant.

What made the trip more memorable was that we arrived in Rome in the first hours of September 10, 2001, on a journey that would keep us away from home for several months. It was a strange time to be abroad, yet it was wonderfully magical. The events back home that fall served to engrave the memories more deeply into our minds.

I remember taking a train eastward out of Rome in the late afternoon one day, watching the sun set over the rolling hills of the Italian countryside. Through the windows of the train, you could see the small hilltop towns and villages with their fortifying walls that protected them from medieval invaders a thousand years before. The valleys were cut up into small fields bordered by aging oak trees and old stone fences. The occasional castle, hewn from grayish brown stone, jutted up from the earth, reminding us of stories of battles fought for land and for honor. To this day I remember that ride with a wistful heart that longs to replicate such an adventure. It changed me, profoundly.

It is difficult for me to recall another time when life seemed so “wholly strange and new,” and as I look back upon it, it reminds me to approach each day knowing that it is possible to live a life filled with a sense of wonder and awe.

Rain and shine at the Rain or Shine

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On a recent trip to Mount Tabor, I drove by the intersection of SE 60^th and Division, where new signs in the window of the corner café caught my eye. Having previously visited and written about Gigibar (the café that used to be there), I decided to go back and learn the story behind the new café, the Rain or Shine Coffee House. When I got there, the February March April May June showers had returned and it was pouring outside.

The first thing I noticed as I walked into the café was the brightness of the space. New hanging globe lamps added to the café’s light, airy feel. Fresh-cut flowers sat on several tables, adding life to the room. Watercolor paintings of flora, fauna and white-washed cities hung on the wall, making me wish I was somewhere on the Mediterranean. Then again, maybe that was just the weather.

A new sign for a new cafe

The new owners, Molly Boyl and Claire Teasdale, went to school together at the University of Oregon. Claire had previously worked in a coffee shop in Eugene, and although Molly did not have much experience with coffee, she said she has enjoyed learning about it. When I was there, the Rain or Shine had only been open for ten days, so they were still getting their routine down.

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